I always feel that the summer is coming to an end when the football season starts. It seems it begins earlier every year.

I suppose its good news for the football fans but I’m sure even they would sacrifice their football for a few weeks of sunshine.

It feels like the summer has passed us all by. I’m still hoping there is some sustained sunshine forecast for September. At least we can hope.

It has hampered our progress on the field in the last fortnight. We faced a strong Middlesex side at Colwyn Bay and competed throughout the game, only for the weather to spoil what could have been an exciting finish.

The highlight of the week was our Pro 40 encounter against Leicestershire.

Colwyn Bay is probably the smallest ground in the country, which doesn’t particularly help me and the bowlers! Leicestershire rattled up a very competitive 291 off their 40 overs.

We started slowly but the innings was kept together by Mike Powell who played nicely for his 84. Still needing over 120 of the last ten overs Ben Wright came in and played a very mature and aggressive innings to give us a chance.

Then my close mate Mark Wallace stepped up to hit 48 runs from 17 balls including three huge sixes to win the game in the last over. It was some of the cleanest hitting I have seen in a long time and shows he still has the ability to push for an England place maybe in the lucrative business of Twenty20.

We are very lucky in Cardiff to have a fabulous stadium. I still believe it’s important to take the game to all parts of Wales. After all we are representing the nation.

It’s a long way to travel for a home game (four hours) but there are a lot of Glamorgan supporters who live in north Wales. With it being a club ground it seems to have a more atmospheric feel about it with more interaction between players and supporters. Also the club has an added feature with a full size snooker table.

As we lost a whole day to the rain some of the lads had boasted that they were youth champions at snooker. So my sporting partner Mark Wallace and I decided to take on Gareth Rees and Jamie Dalrymple.

Mark and I were dressed in waist coats with chalk in the pocket and our own cues. We proceeded to wipe the floor with Gareth and Jamie who left the room with their tales between their legs, but they would get their own back.

A re-match was set up for the evening but this time the chosen event was scrabble. With Colwyn Bay a place for the slightly older generation, we stayed in a hotel which at times felt like we were going back in time.

Mark and I knew that we were up against it as both Jamie and Gareth have 1st class degree honours in Maths and History. With Mark and I both comprehensive boys and spelling words like ‘is’ and ‘the’ we didn’t stand a chance with the degree boys spelling words that I had never even heard of.

With only one day off, we were due to start our four day match against Gloucestershire in Cardiff. Surprisingly enough the weather washed out the first two days with the game only starting at 2pm on the third day meaning it was only bonus points to play for.

You probably ask, ‘What do you do for two days?’ It can be boring at times. Once you have read the paperS, had your food and annoyed your mate sat next to you, there is not that much left to do.

Some of the lads though put up a table tennis table which is really annoying as it is adjacent to my chair in the dressing room. Although I have to admit Robert Croft and I have become the top two seeds.

Having had a few days off this week, we start preparations today for our forthcoming trip away. We play tomorrow against a strong Warwickshire side in Cardiff then travel down to Colchester to play the Friends Provident champions Essex on Sunday with Northampton on Bank Holiday Monday.

It’s the start of a 15-day trip all over the country. After we face Northants in a one-day fixture we face them again in the County Championship.

We then travel straight to Scarborough to face Yorkshire and then down to Derbyshire for another four day game. On this occasion we will travel by coach for the whole trip.

The coach company are very good and it makes the travelling more comfortable for the lads. There is normally cards played at the back and those who want to watch DVDs go to the front, depending on what your taste is. As you can imagine there is some argument on what goes on the TV.

It’s a long time to be away from home and hopefully it can be a successful trip. If we play well in the one-day format there is a good chance we could come back as Division Two champions.

Also this week I have acquired myself a mountain bike.

Just to warn you that if you see a large man on a bike, looking slightly uneasy, please slow down as I’m learning.